Study trialling ketamine to break alcohol addiction

A £2.5m trial is using ketamine combined with talking therapies to help people break their addiction to alcohol.

The University of Exeter said it was using a licensed form of the drug and early results showed it reduced participants' drinking over a period of six months.

It said it is the largest ever trial of ketamine-assisted therapy to help those with alcoholism, increasing its testing from seven to eight NHS sites across the UK for phrase three.

According to Charity Alcohol Change, more than half a million adults in the UK have a serious alcohol problem and three out of four who quit begin drinking again after a year.

Participants randomly receive a different dose of ketamine infusion and psychological support sessions.

Prof Celia Morgan, who is leading the trial, said the initial stages had found participants stayed away from alcohol for longer.

She said: "We think that ketamine helps to catalyse the psychological therapy, partly because of the unique subjective effects that you get from the drug.

"People find themselves having these quite weird experiences, often having out-of-body experiences, so they look at life from a different perspective, and that is very useful."

One participant, Alex, said it had helped him stay sober following 20 years of daily drinking.

He said: "I think life-changing is a good way to describe it. [I think] 'wasn't that strange that I was ever that kind of entwined with alcohol' - my perspective on who I was and what I was controlled by, this... need to drink, that's gone."

Anna Kelsey, assistant psychologist, said mindfulness therapy was a key part of the research.

Its pilot study found that ketamine had the potential to make some people more receptive - improving their engagement with therapy.

"It's called neuroplasticity, so when you're in that aspect you can take on a lot more change, you could be more welcome to new ideas [and] new thinking patterns," she said.

Prof Morgan said the research was not swapping alcoholism for the ketamine addiction associated with the recreational abuse of the drug.

She said: "We're giving the drug in only three isolated doses, surrounded by a therapy that's designed to help people tackle their addiction, so we don't feel that this is a significant risk.

"It's something we'll definitely be watching out for really carefully. We feel that the potential benefits of this treatment for people who are struggling with alcohol problems outweigh those risks."

The university said if successful, the treatment could be available on the NHS in five years.

The government said alcohol-related harm was estimated to cost the NHS about £3.5bn each year.

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